Rams shuffle picks, land top targets

Friday

Apr 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 26, 2013 at 1:00 PM

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Under Coach Jeff Fisher and General Manager Les Snead, the St. Louis Rams refuse to stay put on draft day.

The Rams got help for quarterback Sam Bradford, trading up eight spots with Buffalo and taking speedy West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin with the eighth overall selection last night. They surrendered two picks in that deal and got two back from the Atlanta Falcons when they traded down eight spots and then used No. 30 to get Georgia linebacker Alec Ogletree.

"I would have to say we're very excited, to say the least," Fisher said. "It was a scenario we had been discussing for several days. We got two very explosive, talented young players that are going to help us right away."

Ogletree, whose draft stock was probably hurt by an in-season suspension and a DUI arrest a week before the combine, is expected to fill a starting vacancy at outside linebacker. Without those problems, Fisher said Ogletree would have been a top-15 pick.

"I was just happy to hear my name called," Ogletree said in a conference call with reporters in St. Louis. "I was dumb. I made a mistake, and I just want to move forward."

Austin was among the fastest players at the combine, with an official 40-yard dash time of 4.34 seconds, and with gaudy statistics to match that made him the first skill position player taken. His 2,910 all-purpose yards as a senior were fourth-most in NCAA history and he totaled 17 touchdowns last season, including one each on punt and kickoff returns.

Snead said the Bills had signaled the Rams earlier in the week that they'd be interested in moving down to acquire picks. The deal with the Falcons had been brewing the last couple weeks.

"We had Alec way up there," Fisher said. "People are going to make mistakes. This was a maturity issue."

Despite a lack of size, the 5-foot-8, 172-pound Austin didn't miss a game in high school or college. His survival plan for the NFL: "Get down when I need to get down. Step out of bounds when I need to."

Austin got positive signals during his visit to St. Louis and when the Rams came to Morgantown, W.Va., for a private visit just before the draft.

"Me and the coaches just clicked," Austin said.

The Bills also got the Rams' second- and seventh-round picks in the deal, and the teams swapped third-round picks. In their second deal, the Rams got the Falcons' 30th overall pick plus Atlanta's third- and sixth-round selections.

Austin was an all-purpose threat at West Virginia, topping 100 receptions his junior and senior seasons, with 20 touchdowns. He averaged 8.9 yards on 72 carries last year and totaled four kickoff return TDs.